


Paper Trail

by seibelsays



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Marvel Fluff Bingo 2020, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seibelsays/pseuds/seibelsays
Summary: While doing some research for Steve's birthday gift, Darcy finds some information she was not expecting.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 41
Kudos: 245
Collections: Marvel Fluff Bingo, Marvel Summer Fun Fest





	Paper Trail

**Author's Note:**

> For the Marvel Fluff Bingo square: Engagement and the Marvel Summer Fun Fest prompt: 4th of July

“So, instead of enjoying the lovely 4th of July festivites Darcy arranged for this weekend, I’ve been on the phone dealing with reporters all day.” Pepper said as she threw the stack of newspapers down in front of them in a nice way that only she could manage. “Anyone care to explain this?”

“It’s my fault,” Bucky replied immediately, not looking at the papers. “I was planning on proposing to Darcy.”

Pepper stared at him, then gave a slow, meaningful glance at the headlines before returning her gaze to Bucky.

To his credit, he didn’t falter. “Honest. That’s how this whole thing started.”

“I’m going to need a few more details,” she said.

Steve sighed and settled back into his chair, refusing to look at the papers. “So it started like this.”

* * *

Darcy opened her mailbox and did a little dance of triumph. It had taken _forever_ and a few more favors than she wanted to hand out, but it was finally here. 

The gold mine. Paydirt. The high holy grail.

She’d been researching Steve’s birthday gift for _months_ now and with the information contained in this package, she could finally finish it up. Just in time too - the July 4th holiday weekend was about to begin and she needed to have her gift complete by tonight so she could give it to Steve at the big picnic party thing they were doing tomorrow. He was going to completely flip out. 

In a good way, obviously. What kind of friend would Darcy be if she were intentionally planning to make him flip out in a bad way? She wouldn’t hurt the guy, not intentionally and especially not in public. These were _the good feelings_. 

Never in a million years would she have expected _Steve Rogers_ of all people to become one of her closest friends, but here they were. It was an unexpected benefit of dating Bucky Barnes, really. At first, she’d been hesitant - what if she was just too much for the guy? Too loud or too blunt or too...something. But he’d quickly proven all of her fears to be unfounded and now their friendship had truly become one of her life’s great joys.

Hence, the hefty research into the birthday gift. She owed Wade big time.

She wondered if he’d accept an invite to Stark’s fireworks as payment. He’d probably show up regardless, but with an actual invite he stood less of a chance of getting thrown out. Again.

Probably.

Setting that thought aside, she pulled the thick envelope out of the mailbox and excitedly - but carefully, this was _valuable_ intel - tore it open. She flipped through the stack of pages greedily, alreadying envisioning the possibilities. When she got back to the beginning of the stack, she skimmed through, looking for headings, key words, anything that might point her in the direction she was looking for.

Name, address, birthday, etc etc. She knew all this already and dismissed it. Family, next of kin, medical - 

Wait.

She looked back up at the top of the page, confirmed that her eyes were not deceiving her, then flipped through to another record to compare.

That little shit. 

Both Steve _and_ Bucky had been keeping this from her all this time? Oh, forget Wade. Her boys were in so much trouble.

* * *

“ _YOU_.” Darcy yelled as she stormed into the lobby, dodging people as she hurried to catch Steve and Bucky.

“Darcy!” Steve greeted with a smile. “We were just heading for some coffee before helping with the party set up, want to join?

“Hey dollface,” Bucky said, reaching for Darcy to greet her properly. 

“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” she snapped, shrugging him off before turning on Steve. Bucky backed away slowly, knowing better by now than to get between Darcy and a rant. She appreciated the gesture, but it wasn’t going to get him out of trouble.

“You,” she growled at Steve, “have a lot of explaining to do.”

Steve gulped, then glanced at Bucky who shrugged.

“What should I be explaining?” he asked slowly.

Darcy’s face flushed as she worked herself up to properly harangue the man. “You know, I thought we were good. When Bucky and I first got together, I’ll admit - I was worried. I didn’t know if me being around would break up the band that has terrorized Nazis and terrorists and governments alike. I was worried about hurt feelings and sulking and honestly, the likelihood of having to pick up after a lot of unexpressed manpain. I worked through it, because Bucky is worth it, but the doubt was there. But as time went on and all of that _didn’t_ happen, I thought that you and me were doing pretty good. That we became _friends_ , not just two people who know Bucky and are polite about it for his sake.”

“We are friends!” Steve protested.

“I _express_ my manpain, thank you very much,” Bucky muttered. 

“Then explain this!” Darcy said, holding up a stack of papers. “Guess what I found when I went looking.”

“What is it?” Bucky asked, trying to get a look at the papers Darcy was waving around.

Steve’s eyes went wide in realization and he held up his hands in surrender. “Look, I didn’t want to keep it a secret. It felt like a bad idea, but Bucky didn’t want to say anything, not until the right moment. It was all his idea.” 

“Hey!” Bucky said, betrayed, as his own eyes widened in alarm.

“Well it was!” Steve looked back to Darcy. “While the surprise was a nice idea, I figured you to be more the type of gal that wouldn’t want a spectacle.”

Wait. What? How was this about her all of a sudden? And what surprise? Was this a tactic? It had to be. 

How inept were the bad guys these two faced down on the regular if _this_ was a tactic that worked?

“Steve!” Bucky hissed. “Can we not jump to conclusions here? I’m not sure-”

Darcy cut him off, wanting her own questions answered. “Surprise? You two idiots _planned_ this? What, you figured -” She threw her hands up. “I can’t even pretend to fathom what you two figured.”

“Mostly him,” Steve replied quickly. “I was a bystander, really.”

Darcy ignored that and turned to look at Bucky. “Why the hell would I even _care_? I’m pissed _now_ , now that I know you’ve been keeping secrets, but someone couldn’t have just come out and said something? ‘Hey Darce, by the way, here’s a funny thing.’”

Bucky scrunched up his face in confusion. “That feels a little...anticlimactic.”

“Anticli- what?!” Darcy said. How in the world did these two idiots do covert stuff? She knew her fair share of superheroes and they were all idiots to one degree or another, but this was out of hand.

“Wait, why wouldn’t you care?” Bucky asked.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Darcy shot back. “It’s not that big of a deal. It would be _funny_ actually, if I hadn’t had to find out on my own.”

Bucky gave her an unreadable look. “Are we talking about the same thing here?”

“I told you, you should have just said something, Buck,” Steve said, before she could answer. “I’m sorry, Darcy,” 

Darcy turned back to Steve. “Why didn’t _you_ say anything?”

“It...didn’t really feel like my place,” Steve hedged as Bucky moved closer to Darcy to get a look at the papers she was waving around.

“How is it not your place?” Darcy exclaimed, oblivious to Bucky’s movements. “Are we friends or aren’t we?”

“Well, it was just - it was definitely not - I mean it’s really more something between the two of you and -” Steve stopped and sighed. “I didn’t want to keep things from you Darcy and I’m sorry that I did.”

“Uh, Steve?” Bucky said, as he finally got a good look at the papers in Darcy’s hand.

“No, Buck, she’s right.”

“No really, Steve-”

Steve continued. “Friends shouldn’t keep secrets -”

“Steve, stop talking,” Bucky said in alarm.

Steve ignored him. “-and I shouldn’t have played along with Bucky’s ruse.”

Darcy paused, then nodded. “Apology accepted. Don’t do it again. Friends tell each other stuff!”

Steve nodded. “They do.”

“This could have been _hilarious_ in the right setting,” Darcy insisted. “Does anyone else know?”

“STEVE,” Bucky warned. 

Steve blinked. “I don’t think so? I mean, if Buck wanted to keep it a surprise for you, I can’t imagine he would have told anyone else that he was planning to propose.”

Bucky buried his face in his hands with a muffled groan. “Noooooo.”

Darcy blinked. “I’m sorry, Bucky what?”

Steve gave her a strange look. “He’s been planning his proposal. That’s why we’ve been sneaking around lately. You found the receipts and plans and things, didn’t you? That’s what it was all for. We went ring shopping and have been scouting a venue for him to actually, you know. Ask.”

“You - he - “ Darcy sputtered.

“Yeah, she didn’t know that, Steve,” Bucky groaned. He went to Darcy and motioned at the papers in her hands. “May I?” he asked, his voice soft.

“Bucky?” she whispered, as she handed the papers over. 

He gave her a small smile, then flipped through the pages with a sigh. “Figures,” he muttered with a huff when he confirmed what Darcy was actually upset about.

Steve gaped at them. “Well, if not that, then-”

“You want to marry me?” Darcy asked Bucky, cutting Steve off.

He looked up from the papers and gave Darcy a sad look. “If you’ll have me.” He shrugged. “I just thought-”

“OF COURSE I’LL MARRY YOU, YOU DINGUS!” Darcy yelled. They were attracting quite the crowd now. “I don’t need some big fancy thing, I just need you to _ask me_!”

“Really?” Bucky said, then recovered his wits. “Darcy. Will you-”

“YES!” Darcy yelled and pounced on him. Bucky caught her with a laugh and spun her around.

The crowd applauded with delight, some people taking out their phones to record the scene. They’d be all over the internet later, but for the moment, neither of them cared.

“Wait, if you weren’t mad about the surprise proposal, then what were you…” Steve’s voice trailed off as Bucky held out the stack of papers to him, still engrossed in Darcy.

Steve flipped through, quickling scanning the pages. Darcy had tracked down Steve’s old files, way back from before the war. His _first_ attempt to volunteer, the one with all his real information on it.

Steve burst out laughing. “You’re mad that my birthday isn’t actually the 4th of July?”

A gasp went up from the crowd as more camera flashes went off around them. 

“I mean...uh…” Steve stammered.

Darcy grinned at him. “Thanks for getting us off the front page there, Steve.”

“What a pal,” Bucky drawled, then kissed Darcy again.

* * *

“So that’s how it happened,” Steve said. “Like Bucky said - it was all because he was planning to propose to Darcy.”

Pepper blinked at them, her expression inscrutable before she turned to Bucky with a pleasant smile. 

“Sergeant Barnes, congratulations. Please pass along my very best wishes to Darcy as well. I’m so happy for you both.”

“Thank you,” Bucky grinned.

Pepper turned back to Steve. “While I appreciate the story, I was actually referring to a _different_ headline.” She pulled the top newspaper off of the stack and held it out to Steve, pointing to a photograph of a man who looked uncannily like Steve wearing. Well. 

With the cape and the plunging neckline, “outfit” was probably the kindest description for what the man was wearing.

As Steve’s face flushed, Pepper pressed on. 

“What...exactly...is a Nomad?”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Captain America's Birthday, everyone!
> 
> But seriously Steve. I have questions.  
> 


End file.
